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- Melting and Freezingby ChromoscienceMelting and Freezing (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) When we heat a crystalline solid, we increase the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid … Continue reading Melting and Freezing
- Boiling Points of Liquidsby ChromoscienceBoiling Points of Liquids (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) When the vapor pressure increases enough to equal the external atmospheric pressure, the liquid reaches its boiling point. The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which its equilibrium vapor pressure is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by its gaseous surroundings. For liquids in open containers, this … Continue reading Boiling Points of Liquids
- Vaporization and Condensationby ChromoscienceVaporization and Condensation (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase molecules move randomly about, they will occasionally collide with the surface of the condensed phase, and in some cases, these collisions will result in the molecules re-entering the condensed phase. The change from the gas … Continue reading Vaporization and Condensation
- Biomedical Applications of Capillary Actionby ChromoscienceOpenStax Chemistry 2e Many medical tests require drawing a small amount of blood, for example to determine the amount of glucose in someone with diabetes or the hematocrit level in an athlete. This procedure can be easily done because of capillary action, the ability of a liquid to flow up a small tube against gravity, as shown … Continue reading Biomedical Applications of Capillary Action
- Properties of Liquidby ChromoscienceProperties of Liquid (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) When you pour a glass of water, or fill a car with gasoline, you observe that water and gasoline flow freely. But when you pour syrup on pancakes or add oil to a car engine, you note that syrup and motor oil do not flow as readily. The viscosity of a liquid is … Continue reading Properties of Liquid
- Deep Sea Elvis Worms: New Species with Glittery Looksby ChromoscienceDeep Sea Elvis Worms: New Species with Glittery Looks April 4, 2021 Polynoidae is a family of worms found in saltwater, and they are known as scale worms. The family Polynoidae has five branchiate genera namely Branchipolynoe, Branchinotogluma, Branchiplicatus, Peinaleopolynoe, and Thermopolynoe. All of the genera are native to deep-sea, chemosynthetic-based habitat. Branchiate organisms are animals furnished … Continue reading Deep Sea Elvis Worms: New Species with Glittery Looks
- Hydrogen Bonding and DNAby ChromoscienceDeoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is found in every living organism and contains the genetic information that determines the organism’s characteristics, provides the blueprint for making the proteins necessary for life, and serves as a template to pass this information on to the organism’s offspring. A DNA molecule consists of two (anti-)parallel chains of repeating nucleotides, which form its … Continue reading Hydrogen Bonding and DNA
- Hydrogen Bondingby ChromoscienceHydrogen Bonding (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) Nitrosyl fluoride (ONF, molecular mass 49 amu) is a gas at room temperature. Water (H2O, molecular mass 18 amu) is a liquid, even though it has a lower molecular mass. We clearly cannot attribute this difference between the two compounds to dispersion forces. Both molecules have about the same shape and ONF … Continue reading Hydrogen Bonding
- Dipole-Dipole Attractionsby ChromoscienceDipole-Dipole Attractions (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) Polar molecules have a partial positive charge on one side and a partial negative charge on the other side of the molecule—a separation of charge called a dipole. Consider a polar molecule such as hydrogen chloride, HCl. In the HCl molecule, the more electronegative Cl atom bears the partial negative charge, whereas the less … Continue reading Dipole-Dipole Attractions
- Coordination Chemistry of Transition Metalsby ChromoscienceCoordination Chemistry of Transition Metals (Openstax Chemistry 2e) The hemoglobin in your blood, the chlorophyll in green plants, vitamin B-12, and the catalyst used in the manufacture of polyethylene all contain coordination compounds. Ions of the metals, especially the transition metals, are likely to form complexes. Many of these compounds are highly colored (Figure 1). In the … Continue reading Coordination Chemistry of Transition Metals
- High Temperature Superconductorsby ChromoscienceHigh Temperature Superconductors (Openstax Chemistry 2e) A superconductor is a substance that conducts electricity with no resistance. This lack of resistance means that there is no energy loss during the transmission of electricity. This would lead to a significant reduction in the cost of electricity. Most currently used, commercial superconducting materials, such as NbTi and Nb3Sn, do not become … Continue reading High Temperature Superconductors
- Isolation of Silverby ChromoscienceIsolation of Silver (Openstax Chemistry 2e) Silver sometimes occurs in large nuggets (Figure 1) but more frequently in veins and related deposits. At one time, panning was an effective method of isolating both silver and gold nuggets. Due to their low reactivity, these metals, and a few others, occur in deposits as nuggets. The discovery of platinum … Continue reading Isolation of Silver
- Isolation of Copperby ChromoscienceIsolation of Copper (Openstax Chemistry 2e) The most important ores of copper contain copper sulfides (such as covellite, CuS), although copper oxides (such as tenorite, CuO) and copper hydroxycarbonates [such as malachite, Cu2(OH)2CO3] are sometimes found. In the production of copper metal, the concentrated sulfide ore is roasted to remove part of the sulfur as sulfur dioxide. … Continue reading Isolation of Copper
- Research Highlights: Gene for Survival and Colonization of Commensal Streptococcus in Urinary Tractby ChromoscienceGene for Survival and Colonization of Commensal Streptococcus in Urinary Tract In bacteria, the gene guaA encodes guanosine monophosphate synthetase. Guanosine monophosphate synthetase facilitates the production of guanine nucleotides. Guanine is one of the four main nucleobases found in DNA or RNA. The encoding of guanosine monophosphate synthetase allows bacteria to colonize many different environments. The gene … Continue reading Research Highlights: Gene for Survival and Colonization of Commensal Streptococcus in Urinary Tract
- Research Highlights: New Species of Peacock Spider Discovered in Australiaby ChromoscienceNew Species of Peacock Spider Discovered in Australia April 4, 2021 Maratus or commonly known as peacock spider belongs to the family Salticidae or jumping spider.[1] The male peacock spider is known to have colorful abdomen which is enhanced with lateral flaps during courtship. Joseph Schubert of Murdoch University in Australia discovered a new species of peacock … Continue reading Research Highlights: New Species of Peacock Spider Discovered in Australia
- Geckos and Intermolecular Forcesby ChromoscienceGeckos and Intermolecular Forces Geckos have an amazing ability to adhere to most surfaces. They can quickly run up smooth walls and across ceilings that have no toe-holds, and they do this without having suction cups or a sticky substance on their toes. And while a gecko can lift its feet easily as it walks along a … Continue reading Geckos and Intermolecular Forces
- Intermolecular Forcesby ChromoscienceFigure 1. Transitions between solid, liquid, and gaseous states of a substance occur when conditions of temperature or pressure favor the associated changes in intermolecular forces. (Note: The space between particles in the gas phase is much greater than shown.) Source: OpenStax Chemistry 2e OpenStax Chemistry 2e The differences in the properties of a solid, liquid, or gas reflect … Continue reading Intermolecular Forces
- Non-Ideal Gas Behaviorby ChromoscienceOpenStax Chemistry 2e The ideal gas law, PV = nRT, has been applied to a variety of different types of problems, ranging from reaction stoichiometry and empirical and molecular formula problems to determining the density and molar mass of a gas. However, the behavior of a gas is often non-ideal, meaning that the observed relationships between its pressure, … Continue reading Non-Ideal Gas Behavior
- Use of Diffusion for Nuclear Energy Applications: Uranium Enrichmentby ChromoscienceUse of Diffusion for Nuclear Energy Applications: Uranium Enrichment (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) Gaseous diffusion has been used to produce enriched uranium for use in nuclear power plants and weapons. Naturally occurring uranium contains only 0.72% of 235U, the kind of uranium that is “fissile,” that is, capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction. Nuclear reactors require fuel … Continue reading Use of Diffusion for Nuclear Energy Applications: Uranium Enrichment
- Effusion and Diffusion of Gasesby ChromoscienceOpenStax Chemistry 2e If you have ever been in a room when a piping hot pizza was delivered, you have been made aware of the fact that gaseous molecules can quickly spread throughout a room, as evidenced by the pleasant aroma that soon reaches your nose. Although gaseous molecules travel at tremendous speeds (hundreds of meters per … Continue reading Effusion and Diffusion of Gases
- Greenhouse Gases and Climate Changeby ChromoscienceGreenhouse Gases and Climate Change (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) The thin skin of our atmosphere keeps the earth from being an ice planet and makes it habitable. In fact, this is due to less than 0.5% of the air molecules. Of the energy from the sun that reaches the earth, almost 1/3 is reflected back into space, with the rest … Continue reading Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
- The Avogadro’s Lawby ChromoscienceThe Avogadro’s Law Sometimes we can take advantage of a simplifying feature of the stoichiometry of gases that solids and solutions do not exhibit: All gases that show ideal behavior contain the same number of molecules in the same volume (at the same temperature and pressure). Thus, the ratios of volumes of gases involved in a chemical … Continue reading The Avogadro’s Law
- Collection of Gases over Waterby ChromoscienceCollection of Gases over Water (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) A simple way to collect gases that do not react with water is to capture them in a bottle that has been filled with water and inverted into a dish filled with water. The pressure of the gas inside the bottle can be made equal to the air pressure … Continue reading Collection of Gases over Water
- Research Highlights: Genes for Normal Cell Division Identified in a Minimal Cellby ChromoscienceGenes for Normal Cell Division Identified in a Minimal Cell Cell division is the process by which a cell splits into two or more cells. In bacteria, cell division can be called binary fission which is the primary method for reproduction. James F. Pelletier of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his team revealed the genetic requirement for … Continue reading Research Highlights: Genes for Normal Cell Division Identified in a Minimal Cell
- The Pressure of a Mixture of Gases: Dalton’s Lawby ChromoscienceThe Pressure of a Mixture of Gases: Dalton’s Law (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) Unless they chemically react with each other, the individual gases in a mixture of gases do not affect each other’s pressure. Each individual gas in a mixture exerts the same pressure that it would exert if it were present alone in the container (Figure 1). … Continue reading The Pressure of a Mixture of Gases: Dalton’s Law
- The Interdependence between Ocean Depth and Pressure in Scuba Divingby ChromoscienceThe Interdependence between Ocean Depth and Pressure in Scuba Diving (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) Whether scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia or in the Caribbean, divers must understand how pressure affects a number of issues related to their comfort and safety. Pressure increases with ocean depth, and the pressure changes most rapidly as divers reach … Continue reading The Interdependence between Ocean Depth and Pressure in Scuba Diving
- Breathing and Boyle’s Lawby ChromoscienceBreathing and Boyle’s Law (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) What do you do about 20 times per minute for your whole life, without break, and often without even being aware of it? The answer, of course, is respiration, or breathing. How does it work? It turns out that the gas laws apply here. Your lungs take in gas that … Continue reading Breathing and Boyle’s Law
- Volume and Temperature: Charles’s Lawby ChromoscienceVolume and Temperature: Charles’s Law (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) If we fill a balloon with air and seal it, the balloon contains a specific amount of air at atmospheric pressure, let’s say 1 atm. If we put the balloon in a refrigerator, the gas inside gets cold and the balloon shrinks (although both the amount of gas and … Continue reading Volume and Temperature: Charles’s Law
- Pressure and Temperature: Amontons Lawby ChromosciencePressure and Temperature: Amontons Law Imagine filling a rigid container attached to a pressure gauge with gas and then sealing the container so that no gas may escape. If the container is cooled, the gas inside likewise gets colder and its pressure is observed to decrease. Since the container is rigid and tightly sealed, both the volume … Continue reading Pressure and Temperature: Amontons Law
- Meteorology, Climatology, and Atmospheric Scienceby ChromoscienceMeteorology, Climatology, and Atmospheric Science (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) Throughout the ages, people have observed clouds, winds, and precipitation, trying to discern patterns and make predictions: when it is best to plant and harvest; whether it is safe to set out on a sea voyage; and much more. We now face complex weather and atmosphere-related challenges that will … Continue reading Meteorology, Climatology, and Atmospheric Science
- Measuring Blood Pressureby ChromoscienceMeasuring Blood Pressure (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) Blood pressure is measured using a device called a sphygmomanometer (Greek sphygmos = “pulse”). It consists of an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow, a manometer to measure the pressure, and a method of determining when blood flow begins and when it becomes impeded. Since its invention in 1881, it has been an … Continue reading Measuring Blood Pressure
- Gas Pressureby ChromoscienceGas Pressure (OpenStax Chemistry 2e) The earth’s atmosphere exerts a pressure, as does any other gas. Although we do not normally notice atmospheric pressure, we are sensitive to pressure changes—for example, when your ears “pop” during take-off and landing while flying, or when you dive underwater. Gas pressure is caused by the force exerted by gas molecules … Continue reading Gas Pressure
- Contraction of Smooth Muscleby ChromoscienceContraction of Smooth Muscle Smooth muscle tissue can be found in the walls of many organs. Smooth muscle tissue does not have striated banding pattern found in skeletal and cardiac muscle. The autonomic nervous system, hormones, and chemical signals can trigger the smooth muscle to contract. Cross bridging of actin and myosin is used to create force … Continue reading Contraction of Smooth Muscle
- Research Highlights: Master Regulatory Proteins of the Liver Play a Role in HBV Infectionby ChromoscienceMaster Regulatory Proteins of the Liver Play a Role in HBV Infection Chronic hepatitis B virus or HBV is a DNA virus in the genus Orthohepadnavirus and causes the disease hepatitis B.[1][2][3][4] HBV also causes cancer that does not have curative treatments. HBV infection is a worldwide health issue and causes more than 800,000 deaths per year. … Continue reading Research Highlights: Master Regulatory Proteins of the Liver Play a Role in HBV Infection
- Research Highlights: Mechanism Behind the Higher Affinity of ACE2 to SARS-CoV-2 Compared with SARS-CoV-1by ChromoscienceMechanism Behind the Higher Affinity of ACE2 to SARS-CoV-2 Compared with SARS-CoV-1 The COVID-19 virus led a devastating impact around the world. The COVID-19 virus uses the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of its spike protein to interact with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) of human cells. The COVID-19 virus enters a host cell following the interaction of RBD … Continue reading Research Highlights: Mechanism Behind the Higher Affinity of ACE2 to SARS-CoV-2 Compared with SARS-CoV-1
- Rare Disease: Aquagenic urticariaby ChromoscienceRare Disease: Aquagenic urticaria Aquagenic urticaria is a rare disease in which hives develop when skin comes in contact with water. The disease mostly affects women and symptoms develop at the start of puberty. Currently, the exact cause is unknown. Symptoms include small, red or skin-colored welts with defined edges usually found on the neck, upper trunk, … Continue reading Rare Disease: Aquagenic urticaria
- Image: Venomous Blue Ringed Octopus. Credit: Torsten Velden / Getty Imagesby Chromoscience
- Image: Newly Discovered Chameleon Species: Trioceros wolfgangboehmeiby ChromoscienceMarch 26, 2021 Image of a new chameleon species discovered in Ethiopia.
- Research Highlights: Butyrate Produced by Gut Microbiome Can Improve Antitumor Responses of T Cellsby ChromoscienceButyrate Produced by Gut Microbiome Can Improve Antitumor Responses of T Cells Studies have shown that gut microbiota can regulate tumor responsiveness to chemotherapy or immunotherapy. However, the mechanism of this regulation is not clear. Researchers found that metabolites from gut microbiota can increase the effectiveness of oxaliplatin by regulating CD8+ T cell function in the tumor … Continue reading Research Highlights: Butyrate Produced by Gut Microbiome Can Improve Antitumor Responses of T Cells
- Research Highlights: SARS-CoV-2 Variant More Difficult to be Killed by Immune Responses from Natural Infection or Vaccinationby ChromoscienceResearch Highlights: SARS-CoV-2 Variant More Difficult to be Killed by Immune Responses from Natural Infection or Vaccination The COVID-19 virus has caused more than 2 million deaths just over a year. Vaccines are being introduced to produce immune responses against the virus. The process of viral replication is prone to nucleic acid errors which can lead to … Continue reading Research Highlights: SARS-CoV-2 Variant More Difficult to be Killed by Immune Responses from Natural Infection or Vaccination
- Research Highlights: High Body Mass Index and Weight Gain Linked to Reduced Penile Lengthby ChromoscienceHigh Body Mass Index and Weight Gain Linked to Reduced Penile Length Researchers assessed the erected and non-erected penis size in Italian men. Number of individuals: 4685 Italian men Time range: January 2019 to January 2000 Erect lengths and circumferences were measured in both erected and non-erected states. They measured from the lower base to the distal … Continue reading Research Highlights: High Body Mass Index and Weight Gain Linked to Reduced Penile Length
- Research Highlights: Living Human Seems To Have Missing Cerebellumby ChromoscienceLiving Human Found To Have Missing Cerebellum The cerebellum is responsible for many motor functions. Cerebellar agenesis is a condition in which the cerebellum is completely missing. There is a lack of information regarding the development of the disease. A 24-year-old female patient was admitted to a hospital due to dizziness and walking problems for more than … Continue reading Research Highlights: Living Human Seems To Have Missing Cerebellum
- This moth looks like it came from a military. It is called army green moth or Daphnis nerii. Image: Shantanu Kuveskarby Chromoscience
- Image: Velvet Purple Coronet
Image Credit: Ben Tavenerby Chromoscience - Research Highlights: Excessive Exercise Linked to Mitochondrial Functional Impairment and Reduction of Glucose Toleranceby ChromoscienceExcessive Exercise Linked to Mitochondrial Functional Impairment and Reduction of Glucose Tolerance Exercise can have a positive effect on metabolic health. Exercise can increase mitochondrial oxidative capacity and improve regulation of glucose. Exercise is initially encouraged to treat a number of metabolic diseases. However, the association between therapeutic benefits and excessive exercise has not been clear. Researchers … Continue reading Research Highlights: Excessive Exercise Linked to Mitochondrial Functional Impairment and Reduction of Glucose Tolerance
- Image: Tacca Chantrieri or Black Bat Flower. Credits: Geoff Mckay from Palmerston North, New Zealandby Chromoscience
- Image: Fruitfly (Drosophila Melanogaster) Testis. Fairchild, M.J., Yang, L., Goodwin, K., Tanentzapf, G.
Occluding junctions maintain stem cell niche homeostasis in the fly testis.
Current Biology, 26(18):2492–2499 (2016).by Chromoscience - Image: Baby Tardigrade. Image credit: Vladimir Grossby Chromoscience
- Image: Rainbow Snake (Farancia erytrogramma)
Image: Charles Bakerby Chromoscience - Image: Starfish Novodinia Americanaby Chromoscience